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SUBJECTS: Peter Slipper scandal E&OE……… Journalist: So how are you? Pyne: G’day, good to be with you. Journalist: Well it’s lovely to have you on the show. First of all, being the head or should I say, the person who really gets in amongst the politics when you get to that stand and that’s talking about our Chair Peter Slipper and how he’s basically stepped aside due to these alligations that we’re seeing at the moment. How does that leave the government standing now when it comes to votes in the House of Representatives? Pyne: Well the government has essentially lost a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives because Anna Burke will assume the role of acting speaker, so they’re back in the position they were when Harry Jenkins was the Speaker. So all that they have done of course is wrestled Harry Jenkins out of the job, an honourable and fair and decent Speaker in order to have Slipper inserted into the job and now five months later they’re back where they were before with the only difference being that they have egg all over their faces, the public are yet again aghast at the chaos mismanagement of government and the parliament has been damaged as a consequence. Journalist: Mr Pyne, the one thing that I was interested in was Andrew Wilkie, now he’s taken quite a strong stance, we’ve seen over the last six months against the Labor Party and the government. Now with his support, does that bring things a little bit closer together when it comes to voting and will the Opposition now be targeting head on some of those crossbenchers to try and get the numbers? The reason I’m asking that is because I’m not quite sure what number we’re up to with the suspension of standing orders, but is it possible now we might actually see that happen? Pyne: Well Andrew Wilkie has withdrawn his support from the government because the Prime Minister reneged her deal with him to introduce pokies reform, which means, one of the reasons the government dispatched Harry Jenkins and put Peter Slipper in the job was to give them more of a buffer, of course Craig Thomson, they now rely on Craig Thomson to stay in government his tainted support. But because of Andrew Wilkie indicating he can no longer be relied on, it makes Rob Oakeshott so much more important in terms of his vote from the cross benches. If Andrew Wilkie votes with the Opposition the votes are tied, if Robert Oakeshott votes with the Opposition then the government loses. So, he’s been very much now back in the frame as to how he thinks people should view a government that is standing by a Speaker that is obviously under a very serious cloud and applying a different standard to Peter Slipper than they applied to Commodore Kafer from the Australian Defence Force Academy, who was forced to stand aside, even though the sexual harassment claims about the Defence Force Academy had nothing to do with him. Journalist: How difficult is it to get Oakeshott on side here? We basically see it very clearly what side he is leaning to when it comes to the political spendulum if I can call it that way. Now how are you going to woo him over to the Oppositions way of thinking? Pyne: Well I hope that Robert Oakeshott will recognise that the public are thoroughly sick of the pantomime that passes for a government in Canberra and its latest affair involving the Speaker. When you add it to the Craig Thomson Fair Work Enquiry scandal and the Australian network tender scandal and all the other issues, putting aside the broken promises about the “Carbon Tax” and so forth, that he will recognise that the accumulation of these scandals mean that the public need an election so that they can put a party into power that has a clear mandate in the House of Representatives to govern and we can return certainty and stability to Australia, because that’s what’s holding us back in terms of our economy, in terms of confidence to spend and to invest to build etcetera. Journalist: Good afternoon Christopher, its Peter Lion here. Christopher, next month we’ve got the most important scenario for any, for any government, is the actual budget session. Surely the situation at the moment, if it continues, is going to seriously jeopardise the Gillard government, the Gillard government’s possible outcomes. Pyne: Well this is completely over shadowing the budget. The federal budget should be the most important event on the parliamentary agenda for the year, but unfortunately the scandal involving the Speaker and the government is entirely over-shadowing the budget, that’s unhealthy for the country. The only way the government can deal with that is to require the Speaker to abandon his post as speaker, elect a new speaker and put this matter behind them. Journalist: And nowDavid West, yes Christopher, the thing that bothers me about this whole process is the confidence of the people of Australia, in the government and the federal government and system. We must really be seen by people from outside of this country as being very foolish. Having independents actually physically and emotionally controlling the government, I just, it really beggars belief where we are going in our parliamentary system. How do we come out, how do we get over it to start with without a double dissolution? Pyne: Well the only way to resolve the current chaos and uncertainty that is engulfing the parliament of course is to hold an election and give the public an opportunity to elect a party with a clear mandate. We are a laughing stock overseas, not just because of the antics of the parliament and the fact that Craig Thomson’s investigation has taken, its now in its fourth year and at the same time the government says it can wrap up an investigation of Peter Slipper in two weeks, which they have announced today is what they are aiming for. So on the one hand they can get a police investigation in Peter Slipper turned around in a fortnight, but apparently Craig Thomson’s investigation can be in its fourth year and the government can be defending that. But the rest of the world is also laughing of course because we are the only country introducing an economy wide “Carbon Tax” which is the greatest act of self harm on an economy that the world has ever seen and they are licking there lips at the prospects of how they will be able to compete better with Australian products and energy costs because Australia is taking its number one competitive advantage out of the play. Journalist: Christopher, Mr Pyne, I’ve gotta ask the question, when you take government and if we look at the polls now, we see its going to be a landslide win. Or though the government mightn’t think that way, but if you look at Queensland and you follow the trends, it’s not looking real good for the government for the next election. What will you change, or will you be able to change, some of the things this government has implemented so far, can you turn it back? I guess that’s the big question, and you know how much pain will that give to the Australian people, I would be interested to know your thoughts on that? Pyne: If we are fortunate to form a government because the people support us – I hope that they will whenever that is hopefully sooner rather than later - we have indicated that we will immediately move in the first 100 days to wind back the carbon tax and the mining tax.  Obviously there are many other things that we would do. But if the Labor Party is foolish enough to block our removal of the carbon tax, I think the Australian public will have a very low threshold of tolerance for such a move. Clearly if we get elected at the next election, the public will know because it will  be a referendum on the carbon tax that that is what we are going to do.  If the Labor Party then blocks that with their Green-aligned Senate I think the public would say a double dissolution – as much as we don’t want to do it – is entirely justifiable and Labor would be smashed in a subsequent election for thumbing their nose at the will of the people. And it being stressed at the next election... Journalist: Won’t you need to tighten the belt in government because of the amount of money that this government has spent – this has to be heard somewhere, we are not in fairytale land - say that if you become in government that you are not going to tighten the purse-strings.  It’s going to have to happen to bring us back into some sort of surplus. Pyne: Well we do need to live within our means - that’s definitely number one priority.  We are however in “lala land” at the moment – we have a Prime Minister who says that if they deliver a $1.5 billion surplus this will somehow put pressure on the Reserve Bank to reduce interest rates and conveniently ignore the $167 billion deficit her Government has run for the last four years.  I don’t think they are fooling anyone. But we have said we have tighten the belt, there will be spending cuts in certain areas and we will account for ourselves for those cuts. Journalist: Why would you not come out with those spending cuts now?  Is there a strategic reason why the opposition hold out for so long? We see the banter from the government that you aren’t going to tell anyone what the spending costs are going to be until the election  because maybe you don’t have that information – what do you say to the government to that and what are you saying to the Australian public on that you are holding it very close to your chest? Is there a strategic reason why you are doing it? Pyne: Well there are two budgets and one more midyear economic forecast to be published before the next election is due.  We can’t announce our spending cuts before then – before the election  - or before close to the election as until the budgets have been delivered and the MYEFO been handed down in December, we don’t absolutely have an idea of what the budget bottom line is.  Now the government will probably initiate more spending cuts and more tax between now and the next election.  So we couldn’t really announce with any great certainty what our spending cuts would be immediately but after the next election we will know what the current budget bottom line will be.  We will be in a stronger position to make more credible announcements about our spending cuts and what we intend to do in government. Journalist: I was just thinking along the lines of I think he Australian public are cranky and justifiably so thinking here we go again with the Peter Slipper dramas and he has stood down for the time being, do you think there should be a rule or some sort of honour in that while investigations are being carried out people should step down? Pyne: Most ministers of course stand down if they are facing allegations of sexual harassment by staffers until those matters have been resolved. The government stood down Commodore Kafer of the Australian Defence Force Academy in spite of the sexual harassment allegations weren’t made about him but made about officers at the ADFA and yet the Government has a second, a different agenda or standard for Peter Slipper.  And we know the reason for that, the only reason for that is that because they did a squalid and tawdry deal last year to dispatch Harry Jenkins and put Peter Slipper in the job in order to give themselves an extra vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. So they could renege on their deal with Andrew Wilkie and so that they could provide less on Craig Thomson.  The thing that the public understand about this government is that in spite of their spin they know the most important priority of this government is hanging on to power and when the penalty or the punishment comes next election for the Labor Party I think it is going to be exenterated because they did hang on to power during thick and thin by whatever the means rather than honestly facing up to the Australian people in an election and giving the public the opportunity to elect a government that had a mandate.  I don’t think the public will ever forgive the government for ever saying that they would never have a carbon tax under the government that the Prime Minister leads and then breaking the promise and then holding out for three years  until the public has the chance to cast their own judgement. Journalist: Would you like to sit in that Speaker seat? Pyne: [Laughter] No, I don’t want to sit in the Speaker’s chair.  I do want to sit on the Cabinet side of the House though and sit behind Tony Abbott and be part of a Coalition Government there is no doubt about that but maybe when I am old and grey if I’m still there they might make me be Speaker. Journalist: You know what, I think you would make a great Speaker. Pyne: It’s like putting a poacher in charge of the game. Journalist: You would make a great Speaker.  Every time I think of you as Speaker I’m thinking to myself who would be the first person you would send out for ten minutes in the sin bin? Pyne: Good question! It depends on who is still there! ENDS